Sophie Thatcher kept McQueen’s horn heel revival on the Cannes circuit Tuesday, stepping out at Hotel Martinez during the 79th annual Cannes Film Festival in the label’s black Lexie Slingback pumps.
The “Yellowjackets” star wore the peep-toe slingback sandal style in black leather, with the front cut low enough to expose the red interior at the toe. Waxed black laces crossed the vamp through silver-tone eyelets and tied into a small bow, while metal aglets capped the lace ends.
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The slingback strap sat high around the back of the ankle, leaving the heel open above a slim, glossy black stiletto. The curve of the heel tied the Lexie to McQueen’s current return to its horn-heel vocabulary, a house code rooted in the spring 2003 collection.
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Thatcher wore the pumps with a red McQueen dress from the house’s pre-fall 2026 collection. The design mixed a short-sleeve base with a draped satin layer across the bodice, where red lace panels appeared at the chest and lower front. The skirt fell long with a pooled side train. She carried Furla’s Sfera crossbody in white, a saddle-shaped leather bag with curved flap lines, a long shoulder strap and a round closure at the front. The look was styled by Turner.
That laced-up detail puts the Lexie near a broader run of corset-coded shoes from this year. Kathryn Newton wore Jimmy Choo’s Scarlett pumps in March, a fall 2025 style with lace-up ties over the toes and the brand’s drop heel. Billie Eilish followed in May with Prada’s fall 2026 pumps, which used cotton laces across the vamp with red knee-high socks at the Los Angeles premiere of “Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D).” Back in February, Ciara closed Super Bowl weekend in Christian Louboutin’s Pavlova Booty Alta, a 160mm platform boot with tonal laces from vamp to shaft.
The heel has had its own McQueen track this year, too. Margot Robbie worked the same McQueen reference in January, wearing spring 2026 horn-heel sandals on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” while promoting “Wuthering Heights.”
Her beaded T-strap pair looked back to the house’s spring 2003 rosary shoes, while Thatcher’s Lexie translated the shape through a black leather slingback, one of several silhouettes reimagined with the historic horn heel. McQueen’s spring 2026 collection placed the horn heel back in active rotation under Seán McGirr, applying the archival spring 2003 shape to mules, tall boots and sandals in leather, suede and jacquard.